PHASE 3: BUILD


Detailed Instructions

Week 5


Overview

Building a new business venture requires a strong foundation based on planning, strategy, and communication.  In this phase, students review the Business Model Canvas, Mission Statement as they create Key Performance Indicators and work plans for each department. Success in this phase requires group negotiation and understanding the importance of delegation. 

Optional: 

Students work with their team to incorporate their Business Model Canvas sections into the respective sections of their Lean Business Plan, incorporate their Mission Statement into the plan and gather the materials still needed to effectively complete it. This involves delegation of sections and tasks to team members and problem solving. A completed business plan is compiled using the Business Plan template.  Students are expected to use their business plan throughout the program to guide their venture.

After creating the Lean Business Plan, students should create an Employee Handbook using the sample guidelines and employee roles and responsibilities template for reference. A template for a Formal Business Plan is also provided for those who wish to use it.

Note: Your team is required to complete the LEAN BUSINESS PLAN. 


Objectives

        • Create an accountability framework that incorporates the Code of Ethics, and department work plans.
        • Develop and establish Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and department work plans. Use of the Test of Disclosure as an aid to being transparent with all decisions is to be reviewed.
        • Verify start-up capital needs, resources, and break-even point.
        • Create the Lean Business Plan (if applicable).


Mentor Preparation


Note: All documents and videos referenced in the detailed instructions are available on the JA Canada Resource Portal.


Agenda 

  1. Attendance  (5 min)
  2. Icebreaker (5 min)
  3. Review Business Model Canvas, Mission Statement and Code of Ethics (Test of Disclosure) (10 min)
  4. Key Performance Indicators (20 minutes)
  5. Business Planning (50 min) including Creation of Lean Business Plan (10 min) (if applicable)
  6. Company Meetings (10 minutes)
  7. Product Approval (15 minutes)
  8. Record Keeping Review (10 minutes)
  9. Wrap-Up (5 minutes)


Activities

      1. Attendance (5 minutes) + Icebreaker (Mural - 5 min)

        • Review the attendance procedure with the VP HR and his/her team as they should now be responsible for taking weekly attendance.
        • Choose an icebreaker 

       2. Review Business Model Canvas, Mission Statement and Code of Ethics (10 mins)

        • Take a few moments to review the Business Model Canvas, Mission Statement and Code of Ethics/Test of Disclosure created and discussed last week as this will re-energize the group and help with business planning.

      3. Key Performance Indicators (20 min)

        • Performance indicators are metrics used to measure the success of a business.
        • Before being able to determine what your KPI should be, it is important to ensure your organization has a defined business process, clear objectives for the business process, quantitative and/or qualitative data around results, an approach for identifying and correcting variances to achieve goals.
        • The importance of using the Test of Disclosure in an effort to be ethical should be reviewed and discussed regularly. If participants answer ‘No’ to the Test of Disclosure, refer them back to the Code of Ethics for discussion
        • Important first steps
            • Now that you have a product/service, your company structure is already in place, and you have a business plan (Business Model Canvas), you should already have a good idea of your start-up capital needs.
            • The next step is ensuring you’ve landed on a correct break-even point for your business. To do that, you can refer back to the capital needs, resources, and break-even point worksheet created earlier. 
        • Watch the KPI Video on the JA Canada Resource Portal. 
        • It’s also critical to determine what Critical Success Factors (CSF) you expect. This can be on the production side (e.g. making X should cost $X per unit) or on the sales side (e.g. we should be able to sell X for $X per unit). There are many possibilities, but the most important determiner should be what the key requirements are for your business’s success.
        • Use the KPI Worksheet to work with your team to negotiate the details of company critical success factors, and work from the determined factors to create key performance indicators. 
        • Once you’ve identified CSF and began tracking the KPI, the process becomes one of identifying shortcomings in your business processes vis-a-vis expected results, and develop methods of addressing and overcoming those shortcomings.
        • In the off chance that your business is meeting all its requirements for success, don’t rest just yet. You can also use KPI to improve on good-enough results to try and maximize profitability. That is the ongoing aspect of using KPI.

      4. Business Planning (50 min)

        • Using the Department Responsibilities document and KPI worksheet, break students out into their teams so they can review each department’s responsibilities and start to create a work-plan using the Work Plan Template.
        • Encourage teams to look at their check-lists and break downs tasks into small steps with measurable timelines then enter them into their Work Plan Template. Remind them of SMART goals.
        • Provide each team with the Resources Available by Department document. Allow each department to view any videos or Power Point presentations available to them on the JA Canada Resource Portal as part of their planning. Remind the Leadership team to review what the Test of Disclosure is with their departments.
        • The VP HR should oversee the creation of the Employee Handbook, due in Week 6. 
        • Monitor each group to listen in on the planning and provide input or directions as this is their first planning opportunity.
        • Bring the group back together and ask each VP to highlight key objectives for their team with timelines. If any decisions have been made that do not seem clear, help the group use the Test of Disclosure as a guide. 

        • Creation of Lean Business Plan (if applicable, 10 minutes)

                • Review the requirements described in the Lean Business Plan template.
                • Begin to import information from the mission statement and Business Model Canvas into the Lean Business Plan template.

      5. Company Meetings (10 min)

        • Explain that starting next week, each session will begin with a short business meeting led by the Management Team.
        • The purpose of this meeting is to provide the Company with an overview of progress to date challenges, success and goals as well as provide an open forum for input.
        • The President is responsible for creating an agenda to be used for these meetings. 
        • Suggested agenda items include:
            • President’s report
            • Report from each department including goals for the session/week, challenges, successes, update
            • Open forum: opportunities for members to ask questions, identify challenges and successes, discussion of issues that may have arisen leading from changes that may have to be made due to Test of Disclosure.
            • Upcoming items such as deadlines, sales opportunities, etc.
        • Explain that a formal Interim Status Meeting will be required in Week 8 and the Management team should review the Sample Meeting Agenda for Interim Status Meeting in advance to prepare.

      6. Product/Service Approval (15 min)

        • Once all research and prototyping has been done for the product/service, the JA Volunteer team must complete the Product Approval Form with the President and VP Production. This must be done BEFORE production begins and sent to the JA Program Manager for approval.
      • The latest date you can submit our Product Approval Form is: Friday, December 10, 2021. Teams can submit their approval form anytime up to that date.  

      7. Record Keeping Review (10 minutes)

        • Each Company is responsible for accurate record keeping.
        • A Record Keeping Tool is available on the JA Canada Resource Portal. Password to edit is JA. 
        • The excel document should be downloaded in a way that it can be accessed by multiple members of the team. Google Drive or other online platforms could be used. 
        • The document MUST be shared with the JA Program Manager so they may also monitor record keeping and provide assistance as needed.
        • The finance, human resources, sales and production departments each have weekly inputs with regards to record keeping. Encourage students to do this immediately following the Company Meeting. 
        • Reinforce the importance of being honest, transparent and accurate with all record keeping.
        • Students can view instructional videos about the Record Keeping Tool in the JA Canada Resource Portal under department resources in Phase 3. 

      8. Wrap-up (5 min)

        • Create an opening to allow students to ask questions or provide feedback on how they are feeling to date. 
        • Let students know that they will have an opportunity to continue planning next week with the goal of starting production no later then Week 7. If they are ready to begin next week they may do so.


Next Steps

Your small group sessions will now transition to department focused sessions (i.e. Marketing team, Production team, etc.) Assign advisors to mentor each functional department as the students begin taking control and responsibility over their business.